A nice "letter to the editor" from former Rosemead Mayor Bob Bruesch made it into today’s Pasadena Star-News and San Gabriel Valley Tribune. I think he does a good job of laying out some of the things that are wrong with the "current" general plan, and why we need to revise it.

March 15-16: E-waste round-up, in the Wal-Mart parking lot on Walnut Grove, south of Rush. Broken televisions, dead batteries, and other assorted dead electronics can be dropped off there. Those are items that should not be disposed of in your regular trash because they may leach heavy metals into community groundwater.

Starting March 18: Electric lawn mower exchange program: registration begins March 18. That’s when you can log on to the aqmd website and try to register for the exchange of your choice. In exchange for your working gas mower and $100, you get an electric lawn mower. The goal is to get the polluting gas mowers out of use and replace them with pollution-free electric mowers (they’re pollution free if the power you use to charge them is generated by wind or water–otherwise, it may still pollute, but the pollution will be deployed outside of the South Coast air quality management district.

Our friendly neighborhood SGVN reporter was at city hall recently and said her said farewell to the ugly orange seats Rosemead residents have been planting their butts in for the past thirty years. I expect the "NO S 0AKING" and "E IT" signs are also gone now, too.

There's a story about the City Council’s recommendation on the general plan in today’s SGV newspapers. One key point that is left out is that the proposed increased density is only along the major arterials (up to 45 units/acre along parts of Valley, and up to 30 units/acre along *portions* of Garvey, San Gabriel, Rosemead, Del Mar and Walnut Grove). That’s the trade-off for trying to decrease the pressure for mansionization in the residential R1 areas. The proposal would also rezone portions that are now R2 down to R1.

That's Tuesday, February 27th.

There's a big story about the general plan here.

They’ve got a link to a map with various mixed use projects around the city, but the map’s too small to read unless you have a really big screen. And if you blow it up, then the resolution leaves a little to be desired.

All of the slots for the Rosemead community yard sale have been rented.  So if you haven't already reserved your slots, it's too late to sell.  But come by, anyway.  Browse the offerings and maybe you'll come across a bargain.

The Rosemead community yard sale will be held on SUNDAY, MARCH 30, 2008, from 9am to 3pm, at city hall, 8838 E. Valley Blvd in Rosemead (91770).

This is just one more example of our new city council majority in action.  It will cost the city virtually nothing but gives hundreds of city residents (many of whom live in apartments or condominiums where their management does not permit yard sales) the chance to sell their used materials, and for thousands of city and area residents to find go bargain hunting.

McCain, Clinton, and Guiliani, in that order.  That's from a Los Angeles Times database that uses FEC data to track contributions by ZIP code.

This is for the year ending January 31, 2008.  91770 residents contributed just over $8000, with McCain and Clinton each splitting about 1/3 of the pot, Guiliani not far behind, and everyone else in single digits. The asterisk in the table says this is just for contributions of over $200.

These things kinda sneak up on me.  And the cloudy weather had me thinking, "What's the point?"  But, if there's a break in the clouds, you'll be able to view a total eclipse of the moon tonight.  It should go from "regular" full near moonrise (around 5:30pm) to completely eclipsed by around 7pm, to regularly full around 9pm.

During the fully eclipsed stage, the moon often takes on a reddish color.  That's because just about the only light that reaches an eclipsed moon is that which has been refracted through the earth's atmosphere.  So, just as the sun on the horizon often looks reddish, the eclipsed moon also looks reddish.  It's got something to do with the relative ability of red versus blue light to be refracted by the atmoshphere rather than just scattered.